I like the lighting a lot -- it's pretty bright and bold and has a lot of impact. I like that you used the lighter, kinda pastel-y tones -- I think it makes for an interesting effect. Kind of give things a bit of a dreamy feel.

I like their expressions. I like Knuckles' serious, tough guy look -- and the little cloud coming from his hands, showing that he's punched one hand into the palm of the other.

Funny coincidence: Happened to be looking up Tikal pics and then saw your most recent upload is a pic of Knux and Tikal! XDI'm so happy to see this out of you! Unusual medium; sets it apart from most pics of these two.

But, technically, isn't Shadow older than him? He was made in a time before Sonic & co, and is claimed to be immortal (which makes me wonder that, if he were immortal, why can you die as in the game). So, in a way, it's sort of Wolverine thing.

Unless the explanation is that she didn't really die but is just time traveling or dimension hopping like Blaze. She did seem to show up physically to talk to Sonic in person while Perfect Chaos was wreaking havoc in the background.

My own take on it, which you can take or leave, is that Tikal could only calm Chaos by becoming the heart of Chaos. This kept Chaos from committing global destruction but also limited Tikal's own existence. I always thought of the artwork during the closing credits showing Chaos, Tikal and a group of Chao as a family portrait.

To answer your Smash Bros. question; it's simply because Knuckles is an Extra in Sonic's franchise. Adding an Extra from a Third Party company would start ruining what Smash is about; a NINTENDO Celebration. Sonic, Megaman, and Pac-Man are simply guests of sorts. Adding Knuckles or any other extras from their worlds would mean a Nintendo character loses their chance at entry.

Does Knuckles deserve his own game though? Hell yes! Fuck Shadow! All fans wanted to know was how he survived the fall from Adventure 2, that was IT! He already had an established backstory, we didn't want anything else! Instead we got an entire game destroying the fabric of logic by scripting that Shadow is actually an alien in the inexplicable form of a hedgehog. And that answer everyone wanted? They got it at the Final Boss which can be defeated in less than a minute. However; you have to linger for about 5 minutes to hear it. I only found it out of curiosity because the characters kept spitting dialogue during the fight, making me wonder how long it was going to go on. >.<

Knuckles has such an untapped history to be explained outside of the Chaos incident from Adventure. The Archie comics already have an amazing story arc on his family tree, so SEGA needs to step things up and stop devoting all their time toward writing Sonic's terrible puns and dialogue! XD

Aaah I see. But weren't they putting Shadow in the next one? Or so I heard...

Lol, for real? I didn't really bother getting the game, just watched play through. And yes, Knux still has a lot of mystery behind him and there has to be more to the Master Emerald than just turning people super and floating an island. It certainly seemed to cause a lot of wars in Tikal's time.

Can I tell you that I didn't really enjoy the Star Wars vibe of Archie Knuckles Family? Dunno, just didn't care for it. Tikal and her history has more of a flare and it leaves a little room for mystery instead of filling out every single gap like in the comics. I didn't need Knuckle' mom and step-father issues.

Nope, never believe the rumors. Only trust Sakurai's word on Miiverse and the Smash Bros. website. Shadow's still an Assist Trophy.....and a crappy one at that. He still only does Chaos Control, not the highly preferred Chaos Blast. DX

Star Wars? I didn't get that feeling when I read it....but anywho! I'm not saying it's the best explanation of Knuckles' Past, but at least it's something. SEGA needs to come up with a backstory of their own. The Archie Sonic writers already beat them to the punch, and SEGA's just dragging their feet.....or technically dragging Sonic's head against the concrete. XD

Knuckles may not have his own 'game' in a sense but do remember, his first game ever did include his name as part of the title "Sonic and Knuckles" Unlike Shadow's first appearance in "Sonic Adventure 2"

If making them an item were the case, I think it would fit. Reason being, Knuckles is the lone, lost diaspora from his heritage. Tikal would know a lot about their history that he doesn't and that in itself is valuable. Knux also has a very strict moral and honor code and Tikal is a traditional old school girl, so I can see that jiving

Yes. I deeply grieve my sin nature and realize how much I need the grace of Yahashua/Jesus to redeem and transform me to be like him. I recognize everything he's done on the Cross, defeating Death and Hell, and that he is the Son of the Most High God YHWH. I know he will come to this Earth again and I depend on him everyday to sustain me.

Hence, I tend to avoid playing that game. I did get sucked into it a few times (maybe that says something about my friends? or me? hm...) I'm of the opinion of Philippians 4 is indicative of the how man's thoughts should be kept in check. If you think about it, if you spend alot of time fighting (not saying you do, but just theoretically), wouldn't you be thinking alot about fighting? Take notice of your daily thoughts - the things you tend to think about most are the things in front of you and what you surround yourself with. Of course, I could take this to the extreme and say that obviously you're not thinking about how the cost of rice relates to abortion in China, but if you do tend to surround yourself with impure thoughts, eventually the guards of the tall towers around your heart are going to fall asleep from lapse in duty. "The enemy will never come in." Not likely, but tolerance will.I've noted the trend in tolerance of gameplay over the years. About 7 years ago, I wrote a paper about video game violence and how it was making people tolerant of violent activity. That was back when Call of Duty was a new thing and my parents were hesitant to buy me video games as a teen. These days, young kids are playing Halo and Borderlands - much more gruesome than games I've ever touched. What happened? Well, their parents have become tolerant of those sorts of things. The shock factor is gone, and so is the common sense.

Yeah... it's a topic I've had a long time to think about, hence the rambling.

I hear you about keeping thoughts captive though I don't play the more realistic and violent titles you listed. The most violent it gets is Smash and Zelda which is just cartoon violence. Overall, it depends on if it's overly gratuitous or not.

I tend to take titles case by case, some media have some very bad vibes behind it, even seemingly harmless elements. I once had to tattle on my little cousin for playing Grand Theft years ago. I couldn't believe his parents weren't aware of what he was playing.

Even more than the desensitization to violence (or occult), I mostly just deal with distraction on a whole. When I get too distracted, I neglect prayer life and then I get weak and prone to heavier enemy attack. But as for media, the Holy Spirit helps me to detect things as I continue to mature.

For example, in recent years, a lot of pop musicians today are starting to have some very disturbing vibes coming from their music. Artists like Kanye (Monster video), Beyonce (gets possessed by a spirit named Sasha), Katy Perry (heavy witchcraft/New Age), they outright have demonic influence over their music and I can actually pick up the frequencies. They sound like very slow, low and heavy frequencies that resonate to my bone. They feel the opposite of the Father's frequency which is very rapid and light. And the whole LGBT movmenet is basically the worship of Baal, a god that seeks to turn the natural order of God backwards.

Like notice in witchcraft, women are usually the highest rank while in God's order, he designed men to be the spiritual heads of their families? The order is God>Man>Woman>Child

Baal and Jezebel's order is Child>Woman>Man>God

Baal exists to usurp God's authority and Jezebel usurps man's rightful authority. The woman is the helpmeet and should not be trying to rule over the man. She is to respect him and he is to love her like his own body.

These two spirits are still active since the ancient days of Israel and feed into LGBT, deceiving people about their gender which is a huge part of God's Image. Baal was always an aggressive, anti-Christ spirit and you can see by the way LGBT activists are ready to viciously attack anyone who will not go along with them. They don't want to even hear about marriage and family as God made it. What better way to mess up God's Image by having each gender go after each other instead of the complementary. It only produces death, misery, and futility as no life can come from it.

Put 100 gay men in a town. 100 years later, it's a ghost town.

Put 100 men and women in a town, 100 years later it's a small country.

Overall, it's good you are meditating on these things and I'm happy when believers exchange their thoughts. I have benefited so much from exchanges like these. These have been the things on my mind.